Dear Reader,
When it comes to Disney’s The Little Mermaid, it is one of my top ten Disney films and probably the only film that has a good, straight to video, sequel. In the Twisted Tales universe Liz Braswell asks the question what if Ariel had never defeated Ursula? In the book Part of Your World, Ariel has to find her father who has been captured by Ursula and free Prince Eric.
The book reads as if this was the second part of a movie. The characters are exactly the way you remember them from the film. Any characters that Braswell added fit perfectly within the setting of The Little Mermaid. The first half of the book is fantastic, everything flows perfectly. I can also see this book as what would actually happen if the movie ended with Ursula winning.
I have two complaints, however. The first complaint is the book is too long. In the second half of the book there are chapters that drag on too long and seem that serve little to drive the plot forward. There was a scene in the middle of the book that had Eric confronting Ursula, and nothing changed after that scene. The other complaint I have is Ursula is defeated in a single paragraph. Sometimes this works really well and can be an interesting way to handle the villain. Here it is written in a way that if you are reading at a fast pace, you may miss it. I had to take full five minutes and reread a couple of pages to understand what was going on.
I recommend this book for people who love The Little Mermaid. Anything short of that and this book isn’t for you.
Matthew J. Croutch